Hello, Goodbye
by lauraayates
Summary: Canon divergence between s15 and s6. Harry has left for America. Nikki and Leo are left alone at the lab, with Jack due to start anytime soon. Is this a permanent change, or just temporary? A classic Harry returns fic.


**DISCLAIMER: None of what you recognise belongs to me - I wish it did but sadly it doesn't. Silent Witness, and all characters and storylines that you recognise from the show, all belong to the BBC. I can only take credit for story lines and characters which you do not recognise from the show.**

* * *

 _Dear Nikki,_

 _I know this isn't really the sort of thing you send in a letter and I know that I should have told you in person. I am SO sorry that I'm not there to tell you, but this was all last minute._

 _I know by now you're probably wondering what the hell I'm talking about and I'll get to that, I will. But first you need to know something else._

 _I love you._

 _I have since that little game of hockey we had in the morgue. I will never not love you. Remember that._

 _I'm sorry that I can't be there in person but right now I'm not in London so it's a little hard for me to be there._

 _The truth is. I'm in New York (Yes you did read right). This was all last minute and I really didn't have that much time to decide what to do. Especially about you. But I came anyway. I got offered the same post I did a few years ago. I'm a professor at a university here._

 _I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner but like I said before, this was all last minute._

 _I really wish I could be there with you now. To hold you as you cry (I know you). To kiss away those tears that are more than likely dripping onto this page and smudging the words, but before they do make what I've written next unreadable, just know that I regret coming here. I realise now that what I wanted isn't here. It's there with you. I want you. And that is why I'm coming back. I'm giving up being a professor to come back and be with you. That's how much you mean to me. (I've already talked to Leo, he said my job is waiting for me in the safe hands of my temporary replacement)._

 _I don't know when I'm coming back. It might not be as soon as I would like, but I will come back. For you._

 _I will always love you._ Don't forget that.

 _Harry x_

 _P.S. That's still my desk!_

* * *

You feel numb. You have ever since you read his letter two weeks previously. Leo has noticed a change in you and has tried to make you see sense, reminding you every chance he gets that Harry is coming back. Somewhere deep down you know he is, but none of you know when. It could be two or three years before you see him again.

But then it could also be seconds.

You've been running on auto-pilot for exactly 1 week, 6 days, 2 hours, 30 minutes and 42 seconds. You wake up, come to work and go home again. You have no one to do spend your spare time with anymore. Sure you have that one friend from university that has been begging you to meet up with them for a few weeks now. But you can't risk the chance that Harry will turn up on your doorstep while your out at some bar getting drunk. There's Leo - and you know he would happily stay in with you - but he has Janet and you'd feel like you're intruding, so you don't.

2 weeks, 3 days, 4 hours, 8 minutes and 21 seconds after you read Harry's letter, his replacement starts. He introduces himself as Jack Hodgson and as soon as you look up from the report you're currently writing on 78 year old Mr Simon Barker who died of natural causes a week ago, you find yourself comparing him to Harry.

You look at his clothes: Suit and tie. He's more professional than Harry. You remember the bright orange jumper Harry wore a few years ago. You remember the many pairs of jeans that he wore, that never failed to tell you when you had turned him on. You remember the hat he wore in Africa when you investigated the death of Rachel Gates.

You look at his eyes: green. They look worn and you can see a slight cut across his left eyebrow. He's been in a fight. You remember Harry's eyes: dark brown. His eyes where the reason you loved dark chocolate more than milk or white. They always reminded you of it. You were wandering the streets of London when you first told him. He had walked into first store you came across, and bought you the most expensive bar of dark chocolate he could find. You'll never forget that day, after he'd bought you the chocolate, he bought both a coffee from the Starbucks next door, before taking you to the park. You remember how he had declined when you offered to share it with him. You remember how he said that now he knew what you thought about his eyes, eating dark chocolate would be like he was eating his own eyes. You remember the smile that stretched across his face as you laughed at that.

You look at his smile. It looks hard, like he's protecting himself, but from what you don't know. You remember Harry's smiles. He had many. There was the smile he showed to grieving relatives - the one that showed them that he knew what they were going through. There was the smile he showed you when he wanted to make you think that he was innocent, even when you both knew that he was anything but. There was the little smirk he showed you when he was letting you know he'd done something he shouldn't have done but was going to tell you what. There was the smile he used when you were crying, when he wanted to tell you that everything was going to be okay.

You realise you've been sat staring at him for at least 10 minutes, but you don't care. You continue to stare at him, trying to make him feel uncomfortable and unwelcome; until he speaks up. "Erm, is this my desk?" He points to your empty desk.

"No. That's my desk." You return, before continuing with your report.

"So that's my desk?" He points to the desk you're using.

"No. This is Harry's desk."

"So that is my desk. I'm Professor Cunningham's replacement. Didn't Professor Dalton tell you?"

"Of course, Leo told me!" You're not sure why you're offended by the fact he thinks you have just a professional relationship with Harry and Leo. "And it's Dr. Cunningham. He's giving up his professorship to come home to me."

"Well, I'm sorry, but he won't be working here no more. I'm here permanently."

"Leo has already promised him his old job back, which means that he is getting his old desk back. When he comes back, things will be normal again, Harry will joke that he's mad that I've stollen his desk again and then he will let me use it while he uses mine. And you will just be another colleague that we don't know."

You ignore him as you pick up your report and head to Leo's office.

"Report for you." You put the file in his in-tray. "Jack is wondering where his desk is."

"He's using Harry's." Leo tells you with a small frown on his face as if he expects you to know that already.

"But where is Harry going to work when he comes back?"

Leo sighs, you can tell that he knew this was coming. "We don't know when Harry is coming back, it could be tomorrow or it could be in a few years time. Jack can have Harry's desk and when Harry comes back, I'll get him a new desk."

"But-" you begin to protest, but fall silent when you feel a strong pair of familiar arms circle your waist.

* * *

You momentarily freeze as you feel a pair of arms coming to rest around your waist. That is until you take a breath and a familiar smell fills your nostrils. That is until a stubble covered chin comes to rest on your shoulder. That is until a voice you had begun to forget, whispers the words "I missed you." in your ear.

Turning around you fling your arms around his neck. "Don't ever leave me like that again." You whisper in his ear, not willing to break the intimacy of this moment, despite your audience.

"Don't plan on it."

You pull back slightly to look into his eyes and as soon as you smile, he knows what you're thinking and says "I'll buy you a bar later." Before leaning in and pressing his lips to yours. Leo looks at you both, confusion written across his face.

A wave of emotions pass through your body.

You feel loved. As soon as your lips met, you knew that he is the one for you. You know that this is the man you will marry and this is the man that will one day father your children.

You feel sexy. No man has ever made you feel like this. When you've kissed other men, before Harry, it was all a drunken blur and there was never any connection between you, but now, here with Harry's lips pressed against yours, the history of your friendship and the fact that you are both sober and well aware of your actions, he makes you feel sexy, you can't explain how.

You feel grateful. There was the chance that Harry would have loved his new post in America and not come back; had that happened, you never would have gotten this second chance with Harry. You've never really believed in any god before but at this moment, you're thanking them all.

The clearing of a throat brings you both back to the present day. Meeting Harry's eyes once more, you rest your head against his chest and bring your arms down from his neck to rest around his waist as you feel his snake up around your shoulders.

"So this is Harry then." you hear Jack ask from the doorway to Leo's office. "Sorry," Jack steps forward and holds his out towards Harry. "Dr. Jack Hodgson. Your replacement."

Harry smiles at the other man. He takes one arm from around Nikki - who looks up and frowns at him - and shakes Jack's hand.

"Er, just temporarily, until Harry is ready to come back full time." Leo interjected before Nikki could argue again.

"Temporarily!? I was told this post would be permanent. I-"

"That was before I knew that Harry was coming back. I can talk to the coroner, see if there are any available posts near-by for you, but I'm afraid that now we have Harry back, there are no posts here."

* * *

"I'm glad you're back." you whisper that evening as you sit against his chest while watching your favourite film. "I don't know how long I would have coped with Jack. He kept emphasising the fact that he was your replacement as if he had to replace you in my life as well as just at work."

"Well, you won't have to deal with him any longer. Your knight in shining armour is here." You think back over the eight years that you've known Harry and realise that yes, he is, always has been and always will be your knight in shining armour. So you tell him so.

"You are, you know?" You tell him.

"I am what?" You can tell that he his confused at your words.

"My knight in shining armour. I've lost count of the many times you've come to my aid over the years. I don't think I'd be here if it weren't for you."

You hear him scoff behind you as he disagrees with you.

"I know this is a bit soon but... I love you, Harry."

"I love you too, Nikki.


End file.
